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Greens powders are an essential supplement for many consumers looking to improve their nutrition and overall health. Among the top-ranked greens powders are Live it Up Super Greens and Athletic Greens (AG1).
As an expert in food and nutrition, I’ve dug into the science behind these two greens supplements. While they are two of the best greens powders available on the market, Live it Up Super Greens edges out Athletic Greens as my leading choice.
In this article, I’ll discuss AG1 vs. Live it Up in terms of ingredients, potential benefits, cost, and taste to help you choose the best greens powder for your needs.
See how AG1 stacks up against the competition
Live it Up vs. AG1 Highlights
Here are the key facts about each product at a glance.
What Is Live it Up Super Greens?
Live it Up Super Greens is an all-natural green powder and superfood product made with organic vegetables, probiotics, and digestive enzymes. Super Greens is made by Live it Up, a company with focused attention on three nutrient-dense, plant-based superfood formulations, all aimed at maintaining overall health.
With tag lines such as “real food for real people” and “makes up for what your nutrition lacks,” Live it Up emphasizes the everyday, down-to-earth quality of their greens supplement. It’s an easy way to fill nutrient gaps and help boost vegetable intake even during your busiest days.
Advantages
Safety: Live it Up puts an emphasis on safety for all of their products. Super Greens powder is third-party tested, produced in Good Manufacturing Practices GMP-certified facilities, and made in the USA. It is also gluten-free, sugar-free, free of artificial sweeteners, caffeine-free, nut-free, and 100% vegan to help fit into many different diets.
Quality: Super Greens contains all-natural, non-GMO superfoods and doesn’t compromise quality with unnecessary added ingredients. It’s produced from organic vegetables, does not contain herbicides or pesticides, has no added sugar or artificial sweeteners, and is free from additives and fillers.
Natural vitamins and minerals: All 24 vitamins and minerals in Live it Up Greens are found naturally in the whole vegetable and superfood ingredients. No synthetic vitamins or minerals are added.
Disadvantages
Sold on a single platform: Super Greens is only sold on the Live it Up website, making purchasing just a bit more inconvenient if you prefer getting all of your supplements from one place.
Mess: Live it Up Super Greens clings to your scoop and hand, which makes it a little messy. This happens because the powder is so finely ground that during transport it rubs against the plastic scoop and container walls, causing a build-up of static electricity. I found transferring the greens powder into an airtight canister helps reduce the mess.
What Is Athletic Greens AG1?
AG1, originally called Athletic Greens, has been on the market for just over a decade and contains a wide array of ingredients, including vitamins, minerals, superfoods, and probiotics. Athletic Greens is both the brand and the product, with the company focusing its energy solely on the success of this single greens powder.
Touting itself as a vitamin and mineral supplement in combination with a greens powder, Athletic Greens calls its product a “daily Foundational Nutrition supplement.” While originally formulated to meet the needs of athletes, it is now marketed as for everyone.
Advantages
Safety: Just like Live it Up Super Greens, Athletic Greens is manufactured in a GMP-certified facility. It is also third-party tested and NSF Certified for Sport, which is known for helping optimize the product’s safety for athletes. AG1 green powder is also gluten-free, vegan, and has no added sugar or artificial sweeteners (but is sweetened with stevia).
Quality: While there are only a handful of ingredients that are organic greens, Athletic Greens claims it tests for and is free of most pesticides and herbicides. Additionally, this green powder is free from added sugar, artificial sweeteners, fillers, and additives.
Vitamins and minerals: AG1 focuses on the multivitamin aspect of their product, enhancing it with 21 micronutrients.
Disadvantages
Synthetic vitamins and minerals: Not all of Athletic Greens' micronutrients are naturally occurring. The product has 17 synthetic vitamins and minerals added.
While including micronutrients can be beneficial, Athletic Greens has several nutrients that greatly exceed 200% of your daily needs. For some consumers, these doses may be concerningly high based on their health needs or contraindicated with certain medications or other supplements.
Not fully organic: If you are looking for a green powder with all organic ingredients, this one does not fit the bill.
Price: At $79 per 30-day subscription ($99 if you’re only buying one) and no free shipping, AG1 is one of the most expensive greens powder supplement on the market and a core reason consumers are often looking for Athletic Greens alternatives.
Potential Health Benefits
Almost every function in the body requires one or more vitamins and minerals. Indeed, research shows that micronutrient deficiencies can contribute to the development of suboptimal health and certain larger health concerns.
Depending on the number and quality of ingredients, greens powders can contain several essential micronutrients and may provide an array of health benefits.
As a dietitian, I always view these claims with some degree of skepticism, which is why I evaluated each formula myself to see what potential health benefits Live it Up Super Greens and AG1 could impart.
Live it Up Super Greens Purported Benefits
Under its list of stated benefits, Live it Up Super Greens says it aims to promote digestive health, immune support, and balanced energy.
Digestion
Live it Up Super Greens are formulated for digestive wellness, with 5 billion CFU probiotics and 3 plant-based, dairy-free digestive enzymes as the heavy-lifting ingredients.
Probiotics are live bacteria that, when taken in an adequate dose, help maintain a healthy microbiome in your gut. A diverse and healthy microbiome is important because bacteria play a role in breaking down certain foods as well as synthesizing different vitamins and amino acids.
Digestive enzymes are necessary to help digest food so that you can absorb their nutrients.
Additionally, Live it Up Super Greens contains three grams of fiber. Fiber ferments in the gut to form short-chain fatty acids. These microbial metabolites are the preferred energy source for our intestinal cells, helping to keep them healthy and efficiently digesting and absorbing nutrients.
Immune Support
Every stage of the immune response requires specific vitamins and minerals, including A, C, B6, B12, folate, copper, selenium, and iron. With a full array of 24 naturally occurring essential vitamins and minerals, including the ones listed above, Live it Up Super Greens may support the body’s natural defenses.
Energy
The body requires food to produce energy. But not just any food, the food must be replete with the micronutrients needed to help convert what we eat to energy. All B vitamins (with the exception of folate), vitamin C, iron, and magnesium are necessary within the energy production cycle.
Live it Up could support balanced energy by providing a source of these nutrients.
AG1 Purported Benefits
AG1 claims that its greens powder helps with immune defense, gut health, focus, and energy.
Gut Health
With 7.2 billion CFU probiotics, Athletic Greens provides a hefty dose of these beneficial bacteria to help with gut health. It also contains one digestive enzyme and two grams of fiber.
Other ingredients Athletic Greens touts within its digestive complex include astragalus and burdock root, which may increase the production of short-chain fatty acids, as well as reishi and shiitake mushrooms, which work as prebiotics.
Immune Defense
Just like with Live it Up, Athletic Greens supports immune function by providing 22 essential micronutrients, including A, C, B6, and B12, as well as zinc, copper, and selenium.
Other ingredients in AG1 that may influence the body’s immune function include probiotics as well as functional mushrooms.
Energy and Focus
While Athletic Greens supplies B vitamins to help sustain energy, the product is also advertised to enhance focus. Specific ingredients to help with focus are not called out on the website, rather Athletic Greens discusses the addition of Rhodiola to help balance the stress response as well as magnesium to help promote relaxation.
Ingredients Breakdown
While many greens powders have a few overlapping ingredients, the others can make or break a product in terms of benefits and nutrient density. Both Live it Up Super Greens and AG1 have formulated exemplary ingredient profiles.
Live it Up Super Greens Ingredients
Super Greens contains a proprietary blend with over 20 superfood ingredients, including barley grass and wheatgrass, along with probiotics and digestive enzymes.
It’s important to note that the number of ingredients can impact a product’s potency. Too few and it may not contain key nutrients, too many and each ingredient’s nutrient value could be diluted.
This number of ingredients within Live it Up’s 8-gram scoop potentially allows for a good concentration of each superfood.
Let’s take a look at a few stand-out ingredients.
Chlorella
This blue-green algae is a nutrient-packed powerhouse, containing iron as well as many vitamins like B12 and C. It’s also recognized for its antioxidant content, which includes chlorophyll, carotenoids, and other polyphenols.
Research shows that chlorella may bind to heavy metals, helping to excrete them from the body–though more studies are needed.
Nutrition insight: Chlorella has a very strong cell wall that we cannot digest. For this reason, Live it Up uses broken cell wall chlorella, allowing customers to get the most out of this dynamic superfood.
Nopal Cactus
Also called Prickly Pear, this cactus is native to southwestern parts of the U.S. and Mexico. Nopal is rich in antioxidants, which help to scavenge harmful free radicals and may have neuroprotective properties. It is also a source of vitamins E, K, and C, as well as minerals calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
Nettle Leaf
Stinging nettle has been used as an ancient herbal remedy for centuries. This plant is plentiful in bioactive compounds with high antioxidant power, such as phenolic acid, flavonoids, and carotenoids, giving it anti-inflammatory properties. Nutritionally, nettle leaves contain vitamin A, calcium, and iron, and have a better amino acid profile than most other leafy vegetables.
Kelp
This seaweed is found in nutrient-rich, shallow saltwater throughout the world, and is one of the best sources of iodine, an essential nutrient for thyroid health. Kelp also contains vitamins K1, A, B5, folate, and magnesium, along with an abundance of antioxidants.
AG1 Ingredients
AG1 has an impressive 75 ingredients, a little over 40 of which are superfoods. With a serving size of 12 grams, a lot is being packed into one scoop. This risks diminishing the effectiveness of some ingredients.
AG1 has done a great job of including top-notch ingredients in its greens powder. Athletic Greens includes a mushroom blend, fiber blend, green tea extract, and whole-leaf barley grass, among other superfood ingredients.
Spirulina
Spirulina is a type of blue-green algae that grows in either fresh or salt water and has been revered as a superfood since the Aztecs. Not only does it contain the essential amino acids, but it is also a rich source of nutrients, such as vitamins A, C, D, and E, several of the B vitamins, and minerals iron, zinc, and phosphorus.
Interestingly, spirulina may impact athletic performance. Some studies indicate that this alga may improve time to exhaustion as well as recovery after exercise.
Beetroot
Beets are a common vegetable that pack some uncommon benefits, especially when it comes to athletic performance. While this root vegetable is rich in vitamins and minerals, its antioxidant power is what helps give it superfood status.
Beets are high in plant nitrates, which, when converted into nitric oxide in the body, helps widen and relax our blood vessels, helping to increase blood flow.
Nutrition insight: Nitrates/nitrites are also found in processed meats; however, these affect our bodies much differently. Sodium nitrites are used as preservatives in processed meats, and these are mostly broken down into harmful nitrosamines rather than beneficial nitric oxide.
Astragalus
This root is an antioxidant-rich staple of traditional Chinese medicine and is thought to stimulate the body’s protective energy. Astragalus is also considered an adaptogen, helping the body respond to stressors.
Acerola Cherry
This berry is one of the most potent sources of vitamin C, making it alluring to people who are seeking immune support. Vitamin C also plays an important role in the maintenance of collagen.
Acerola cherry is also a significant source of vitamin A, and its abundant antioxidants help produce anti-inflammatory actions within the body.
Cost Review
The best greens powders can be an excellent complement to an everyday diet, but maintaining this healthy habit can be tough when budget constraints play a role. While we can expect to pay a bit more for a high-quality greens powder that is chock-full of ingredients, it shouldn’t break the bank.
Let’s take a look at the cost breakdown of Live it Up vs. AG1.
Live it Up Super Greens Cost
- Price for a one-time purchase: $59.99
- Price for a 30-serving monthly subscription: $39.99
- Price for a 60-serving monthly subscription: $69.99
- Price per serving (monthly 30-serving subscription): $1.33
- 30-day money-back guarantee for first-time product orders
- Free shipping
AG1 Cost
- Price for a one-time purchase: $99.00
- Price for a 30-serving monthly subscription: $79.00
- Price for a 60-serving monthly subscription: $149.00
- Price per serving (monthly 30-serving subscription): $2.63
- 90-day money back-guarantee for first-time product orders
- No free shipping, even for subscribers
Taste Test
Let’s be honest, many greens powders have a grassy, fresh-mowed lawn flavor that can be a turn-off to many consumers. While the best greens powder may have hints of grass (they are greens powders, after all), with the right blend of ingredients, more palatable and delicious flavors will shine through.
Live it Up Super Greens Taste
Super Greens currently has two flavors on the market: Original and Wild Berry. Both are slightly sweetened with natural, plant-derived monk fruit, which has little to no aftertaste.
Original flavor has what many customers call a “mint-chocolate” flavor. While this greens powder does not contain any cocoa, chocolate, or added sugar, it does have antioxidant-rich peppermint leaves. Wild Berry has a subtle citrus flavor with a hint of berry.
I personally enjoy both the Original mint and the pleasantly tart Wild Berry. Both mix in smoothly without a gritty or sandy mouthfeel.
Other customers feel similarly, saying:
“I have used other greens powders in the past and mixed them in my protein shakes but this is by far the best-tasting one. I actually am able to take it with just some water.“ ~Angela K.
“This green drink tastes like a Girl Scout thin mint cookie!” ~Tamra M.
“Honestly, it’s absolutely delicious.” ~Christopher J.
“Taste is too minty. I like it but don’t love it.” ~Celina C.
AG1 Taste
Athletic Greens comes in just one flavor and is sweetened with stevia. While stevia is also a natural plant-derived sweetener, some consumers may notice an aftertaste.
This greens powder has hints of pineapple and vanilla, which some people truly enjoy. Others note that the taste is a bit too sweet but still drinkable.
I personally found the taste to be palatable, though a bit more “green” tasting than Live it Up. It mixes in a bit grittier and is not as smooth.
Customers mostly enjoy AG1, though some aren’t as smitten:
“The taste is actually pretty good!” ~Ingrid P.
“It is not possible to drink. Absolutely not tasty. It tastes like ‘synthetic’.” ~Toma B.
“Very unnatural taste.” ~Doris V.
“I was expecting a not-so-great taste because it looks... well... green. But it tastes great, and I am very happy” ~Catherine M.
Live it Up vs. AG1: Are They Worth It?
We live in a fast-paced world where life may not always allow for a balanced diet. In fact, most Americans do not meet the daily recommended intake for vegetables. Adding in a quality greens powder can help close the gaps in your nutrition and provide essential nutrients you may not be getting on a daily basis.
Both Live it Up and AG1 top-of-the-line choices with excellent superfoods, probiotics, essential vitamins and minerals, and quality control features. However, as a registered dietitian nutritionist who works with clients from all walks of life, I’d likely recommend Live it Up Super Greens because of its broad appeal and price. AG1 is perhaps a better option for athletes whose nutrient gaps and needs are much bigger, while Live it Up is well-suited for the average customer looking to invest in their health.
With that said, every client has individual needs and unique health concerns that must be met. A personalized approach to nutrition and the supplements you take is critical to successfully reach your goals.
While a greens powder makes an excellent complement to your regular diet, it could never replace whole foods. From cooking your greens to eating them raw or drinking in powdered form, every method provides you with a different array of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Enjoy a wide variety of plants in a balanced diet to help give your body what it needs to thrive!
FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions to help get you started on your greens journey.
What’s the best greens powder?
Everyone’s needs are different, so choosing the best greens powder that fits your health goals is important. Find one that includes a wide variety of superfood ingredients, organic greens, and adequate probiotics and digestive enzymes to help impact gut health, such as AG1 and Live it Up Super Greens.
When should I take a greens powder?
Many companies recommend taking a greens powder supplement first thing in the morning to help energize your day and get it started with health in mind. However, taking a greens powder consistently is more important than the time of day if you want to experience the health benefits. Taking your greens powder at the time you’re most likely to remember– even in the evening–will still be beneficial.
What can you mix a greens powder with?
The most common way to take a green powder is mixing it with water, milk, milk alternative, or juice. Since most greens powders are a bit sweet, you can also mix it in with neutral or sweeter foods, such as yogurt, oatmeal, or smoothies.
Pro tip: Using a hand-held milk frother or shaker bottle makes quick and easy work of blending your green powders into a liquid.
Are greens powders good for you?
The best greens powders are excellent supplements to help fill nutrient gaps in your diet, provide essential vitamins and minerals, and may have other health and nutritional benefits. Always check with your healthcare professional before adding a new supplement to your daily routine.
Do greens powders help with bloating?
A green powder with adequate probiotics and digestive enzymes may assist with gut health and bloating discomfort. Look for one with at least 5 billion CFU probiotics. Other ingredients such as peppermint, ginger, and lemon may also impact digestive wellness.
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